Refuse container



June 9, 1964 B. M. KOLLING REFUSE CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 11, 1962 llHM'-- JNVENTCR. jy/wn' zjfl fifiny June 9, 1964 B. M. KOLLING REFUSE CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 11, 1962 Jr n INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,136,575 REFUSE CONTAINER Byron M. Kolling, 23W026 Geneva Road, Glen Ellyn, Ill. Filed June 11, 1962, Ser. No. 201,424 18 Claims; (Cl. 294-73) My invention relates to refuse containers and includes among its objects and advantages the production of a refuse container of superior durability and reduced cost, for use with any one of various truck bodies for refuse collection.

These containers present certain problems in that when made of the desired capacity, with the side walls of the container of sufficient strength to carry the mechanical loads involved, they become excessively heavy and picking them up and turning them over to empty them imposes a very heavy load on the loading machinery and even pushing them around on the ground becomes a serious task for the personnel handling them. According to the invention, the main panels of the container are of much thinner material than would be needed to form a box-like container that would hold the loads involved, and various reinforcements at critical points are arranged, with large contact areas to spread the stress, and prevent local distortion of the container body beyond its elastic limits.

Further specific objects and advantages of the invention, together with the novel features required to achieve them, will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a complete container;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the front side of the container of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a detail section on an enlarged scale on line 33.of FIGURE 1 with the end panel 54 removed.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged section on line 4-4 of FIGURE 1; 7

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the upper edge of one end of the container;

FIGURE 6 is a detail of a castor mounting;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective of the mounting plate for the castor; v

FIGURE 8 is a section onan enlarged scale on line 88 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective of one corner of a container With a retractable pivot; and

FIGURE 10 is a detail of the pivot end, partly in section.

In the embodiment selected to illustrate the invention, the container body proper comprises a bottom 10, a vertical rear wall 12, a forwardly inclined front Wall 14,

I and outwardly inclined end walls 54 and 56.

The bottom 10, rear wall 12 and front wall 14 may be cut from a strip of sheet metal of constant width.

' The front wall is continued up and its upper edge is turned over to form bead (see FIGURE v3), adapted to receive the large stationary front pivot shaft 22, to which it is firmly welded.

The rear wall 12 has a forwardly extending flange 24 along its lower edge, which flange overlies the rear edge of the floor .10. As indicated in FIGURE 1, the floor 10 terminates at 26 a little short of the plane of the Patented June 9, 1964 and the double thickness is located where it strengthens that portion of the shell that receives heavy physical impacts and is most exposed to corrosion.

Ground Support Wheel castors are provided at all four corners of the floor 10. These include two castors 32 at one end that are not rotatable about a vertical axis, and two castors 34 that include the conventional vertical swivel.

The completed container, ready for use, is bulky and heavy enough so that it requires two men to load and unload it, and it is frequently desirable to ship the finished containers in bulk in a railroad car or large truck body. To facilitate such shipment the bodies are shipped without the castors, but with abutments on their bottoms '10 to avoid denting the thinner metal of the bottom when the container rests on its bottom. At each corner I provide a mounting plate 38 parallel to and spaced from the bottom 10 and permanently affixed to the bottom 10 by means of diagonal flanges 40 and offset horizontal outer flanges 42 welded to the bottom. When the empty container is placed for shipment on any reasonably flat supporting surface these abutting plates 38take the entire load and distribute it over a fairly large area of the bottom 10 to prevent denting. Each bearing plate 38 has mounting holes 44 at the corners of a rectangle and each castor assembly includes a companion bearing plate 46 having registering apertures. To assemble either castor, the parts are merely juxtaposed and fastened with suitable bolts 48. Fastening nuts 50 may be slipped in between the plate 38 and the floor 10 and will be prevented from turning by contact of their corners with the inclined flanges 40. Subsequently the bolt heads 52 are rotated to clamp the parts tightly in assembled position.

End Walls With respect to the plane of support determined by the castors, the rear wall 12 is vertical and the front Wall 14 is inclined forwarf d'about 5. To insure that substantially the entire contents of the container will fallout readily when the container is inverted, it is desirable to have the end walls inclined outwardly away from each other about 3. The outward inclination of. all four rising walls also facilitates shipment in a nested stack, either with or without removing the castors. Accordingly the end walls 54 and 56 are each outwardly inclined. The end walls may also be fabricated out of a strip of sheet steel of constant width with almost no waste of metal. Each end wall comprises a main panel 54 or 56 and'a horizontal bottom flange 58 inclined about 93 to the main panel and notched at 60 to leave clearance for a conventional drain fitting at 62. The front edge of the main panel carries a flange 64, the inner edge of which is shown in dotted lines at the left side of FIG- URE 2. The outward slope of main panel 54 leaves the adjacent vertical edge 66 of the front wall14 at an inclined angle as clearly indicated in FIGURE 2. Into the rabbet thus defined, weld metal indicated at 68 in FIGURE 8 is flowed to complete the assembly and the inside rabbet along the edge 64 is similarly welded at 70. Thus, the area of abutment between the flange '64 and the rear wall 14 is a maximum at the bottom where the greatest strength and stiffness is desired tocarry the working load, but the flanges can all be of constant width, which contributes greatly to simplicity and cheapness of manufacture.

The upper edges of the end walls 54 and 56 are-simply cut off on a diagonal line to coincide with the upper edge of the heavy, top, load-distributing panel 72. This panel is about twice as thick as the end wall 56 and its upper edge coincides with the upper edge of the panel 56 and is welded to the edge of the panel throughout its length. .Its lower edge :at .74 is similarly welded to the, same panel. The heaviest loads involved in emptying the container are delivered to the container by a tension member pulling in the direction of the arrow 76 of FIGURE and connected to the fastening loopfli to rotate the container in a clockwise direction from the position of FIGURE 5 around an axis determined by the pivot 80. Thus this maximum load is distributed across the entire extent of the upper portion of the end panels 54 and 56 so that there is no local concentration of the load which might buckle the relatively thin end panels. i

The pivots 80 need to occupy the extended position indicated in the drawings to afford clearance for the box body proper to move with respect to the loading mechanism, and the shaft 22 cannot conveniently be made of large enough diameter to enable it to carry the shock of unloading without being stressed close'to its elastic limit. It would be inthis relatively unsafe condition if there were no reinforcement of the extending portion 82 of the shaft. '1 provide a vertically extending bracing plate 84, having its inner edge welded to the heavy front end of the panel 72, and a triangular bracing plate 86' extending rearwardly at a slight downward inclination, with its edge also welded to the panel 72. The pivot $0 is provided with guide flanges 88 for cooperation with suitable loading mechanism, but the braces 84 and 86 extend out clo se to the inner flange 88 and'their edges abut the shaft 22 out to that point 22. Thus the overhanging portion of the shaft, up close to the pivot 80, is so strongly braced that it is more rigid than any other portion of the entire structure.

In most types of loading equipment the tension member throws the entire container strongly forward against abutments on the loading mechanism. In some types the pivots 80 are, engaged before the body of the container strikes some other abutment but in several other types there is contact between the body and the tilting abutment at some such points as the points in. FIGURE 2, or, rather, along the horizontal line across the front of the container passing through these points. To protect the thin wall 14 and also to get the load applied by such abutments close to the planes of the end panels 54 and 56, I provide two bumpers 92, one of which is shown in cross section in FIGURE 8. These bumpers are materially thicker than the panels 72 but of much smaller area. Each bumper includes a V-shaped portion 94, with an outwardly extending flat portion 96 adapted to be Welded to the front wall 14 and an outwardly extending flat portion 98 extending out to a right angle bend at 100. The bumper also includes a wide stiffening flange 102 perpendicular to the flat portions 96 and 98 and extending across the end panel 58. This heavy angle may be Welded to the front wall 14 at the edge of the flat 96 as indicated at 104 in FIGURE 8 and also at the remote edge of the flange 102, as shown at 11%. It will be apparent that throughout the geometrical extent of this bumper beam, the rigidity of the structure is many times what could be available with the front wall 14 and panel 58 only, including their portions which are Welded to each other.

As soon as the pivots 80 are engaged andthe tension connection pulling along the arrow '76 has lifted the container off the ground, these bumpers have performed their initial function in receiving the shock of the contact of the entire container with the abutments on the loading mechanism until the'pivots 8i) get into engagement and take over.

Referring now to'FIGURES 9 and 10, in some types of service'where the material to be handled is not very For this type of service I provide two shorter shafts 1% each slidable in the tube 2%. Each shaft carries a single triangular brace 1E3, the inner edge 120 which is adapted to be received between an upper bracket 122 and a lower bracket 124- welded to the face of the panel 72. If a light load such as waste paper, is to be handled, the brace 118 may be held between the brackets by slidingit in from the position of FIGURE 9 until its edge abuts the panel 72, and slipping a retaining pin through a transverse bore 126 in the shaft 108, and a registering aperture 127 in head 20. If the load is relatively heavy, I prefer to form a tapered hole of maximum diameter at 128 where it enters the top surface of the bracket 122 and minimum diameter where it issues through the horizontal flange of the bracket 124. A tapered pin (not shown) dropped into this hole and through a registering hole 129 in the brace 118 will provide greater strength for carrying the heavier load. 7

'three inches slants down moresteeply at 148.

Ineither instance, the, inner flange 88 of the pivot is cut flat at 13i so that when'the panel 138 is swung down in front of the panel 72, the shaft and the panel can he slid in from the position indicated in FIGURE 9 to move the pivoted!) in at least as far as the brackets 122 and 124 and reduce the overall horizontal dimension of the equipment. When the bracing panel 118is lowered and slid across in front of the container the parts can be conveniently retained by dropping a re taining pin through a hole 132 in the shaft 108, and aperture 127 in the bead 20.

These containers frequently stand out exposed to the weather and when they handle ordinary garbage they are likely to get very dirty. I provide a cover means in two duplicate sections 134 and 136. The panels 72 extend back beyond the rear wall of the container and carry a pivot shaft extending from end to end of the container. Each pivoted cover includes a main flat portion and a stiffening flange 142 along its end edge, which flange laps over the panel 72 as clearly indicated in FIG- URE 4. This flange is cut away at 144 (see FIGURE 5) and the front edge of the container lid extends down at 146 to provide weather protection for the shaft 22 and tube 20. The main flat surface of each panel slants gently downward toward the pivot, but the last two or It is desirable to have the edge portion at 148 at an angle to the main flat panel for mechanical strength, but if the angle were in the opposite direction there would be a shallow trough that would collect and hold even ordinary rain water. As is is, if the soft and sometimes putrid remains of garbage happen to get smeared on the outside of the lid, the greater inclination of the portion 148 tends to cause anything that works down that far to fall off, and avoids any accumulation that might remain there permanently and corrode the metal. A strong stream of water from a hose can play on the entire cover and the cover will drain and dry quickly. The pivot shaft 140 is spaced behind the rear wall 12 far enough to let the cover swing through nearly 270 to the dotted line position of FIG- URE 3.

Others may readily adapt the invention for various conditions of service, by employing one or more of the novel features involved or equivalents thereof. As at present advised, with respect to the apparent scope of my invention, I desire to claimthe following subject matter:

1. A refuse container for garbage, or the like, comprising, in combination: a generally horizontal four sided bottom; said bottom having paralleled front and rear edges; front and rear side walls extending upwardly from said front and rear bottom edges; at least one of said front and rear side walls being integral with said bottom; the other of said walls having a wide flange overlying said bottom and forming a water-tight joint with said bottom;

said bottom, front and reariwal-ls presenting end edges lying substantially in parallel vertical planes at the ends of said container; an end wall piece closing each end of said container; each end wall piece comprising a substantially flat main wall panel; said panel having integral inturned flanges along three edges, bottom, front and rear; said bottom panel flange engaging said container bottom to form a water-tight joint therewith; said panel having its lower edge substantially at the adjacent lower edge of said container bottom, and its upper corners spaced longitudinally out and beyond the upper corners of said front and rear container walls; said front and rear end-wall flanges being Wide enough to reach across said longitudinal spacing, and overlap with the adjacent front and rear walls; said front and rear end-wall flanges engaging said front and rear walls continuously from top to bottom to form water-tight joints therewith; the edges of said front and rear end-wall flanges being diagonally inclined upward and outward :a distance less than the width of said flanges; whereby all the parts can be shaped and assembled substantially without cutting metal along long diagonal lines, and with a minimum of scrap metal remaining.

2. A container according to claim 1 in which said container walls are of adequate strength to confine said contents of said container, but of inadequate strength to permit said container to be picked up by local force applied near the upper edges of said walls; and a reinforcing frame including heavy load distributing plates covering a substantial area adjacent the upper edge of each end wall panel.

3. A container according to claim 2 in which said front wall extends higher than said rear Wall; the upper edges of said end wall panels and distributing plates being inclined forwardly and upwardly from the level of the top of said rear wall at their rear ends up to substantially the level of the top of said front wall at their front ends.

4.'A container according to claim 3, having coaxial pintles projecting from the top corners of said front wall; there being a continuous transverse shaft, the ends of I which project laterally beyond said container end walls and constitute said pintles; said front wall having its .upper edge wrapped around said transverse shaft and reinforcing said shaft; said shaft having an extension portion extending laterally beyond the ends of said container, and a pivot proper at the outer end of said extension; there being bracing plate means having an edge abutting said shaft and fastened to said shaft; said bracing plate means having another edge perpendicular to said first edge and fastened to the face of the adjacent load-distributing plate.

5. A container according to claim 4, in which said bracing plate means includes two bracing plates; a first one of said plates having its inner edge substantially in the plane of the front wall of said container; the other plate extending rearwardly and downwardly at a substantial dihedral angle to said first bracing plate; both bracing plates having their edges fastened to said loaddistributing plate.

6. A refuse container comprising, in combination: a water-tight box-like body having bottom, front side, rear side, and two end walls; said body being of relatively thin sheet metal; said body having two load-distributing bumpers, one at each end of the front wall of said body intermediate the top and bottom thereof; each load-distributing bumper consisting of a structural angle shape having a short leg, and a long leg lying at a dihedral angle of 90; said angle embracing the front dihedral edge at the junction of an end of said front wall and the front edge of an adjacent end wall; both legs of said bumper being fast to the adjacent front and end walls; said long leg lying against said front wall; said long leg having a central portion bent forward to define a stiffening rib; the front edge of said rib being rounded to receive impact for displacing said container; the front edge of said rib being adapted to slide on an abutting structure while under working load.

7. A refuse container adapted for power loading, comprising: a main elongate body having walls defining five surfaces of a slightly tapered parallelepipedon; said body having its long dimension horizontal, and opening upwardly; and pivot means adjacent the opposite ends of one long edge of said body opening, to carry-the Weight of .said body and contents from a position behind and below the axis of said pivot means, to an inverted emptying position above and at least partially in front of said pivot means; each pivot means being an elongate member axially slidable from an-operating position spaced out beyond the adjacent end of said body to a retracted position close to the plane of the end of said body.

8. A container according tonclaim,7 having also locking means for locking each pivot means in axially extended position. I

9. A container according to claim 8 in which said pivot means is also rotatable about its own axis; said pivot means having also a lateral brace adjacent to the outer end of said pivot means and integral therewith; and fastening means on the end of said body adapted to engage said lateral brace when said, pivot means is extended into operative position and said brace is rotated into position extending diagonally across said body end.

10. A container according to claim 9 in which the upper edge of the front wall of said body is curved into a tubular configuration to receive and guide said pivot means and stiffen said front wall.

11. A refuse container adapted for power loading, comprising, in combination: a main body havingwalls defining five surfaces of a receptacle opening upward; one, transverse front wall having a tubular reinforcement along its upper edge; two pivot means, each independently slidable in one end of said tubular reinforcement; each of said pivot means having spaced flanges near its outer end adapted to engage guide means for guiding said container in rotary movement around said pivot means.

12. A combination according to claim 11 in combination with a reinforcing brace on each pivot means; each brace having one, first, straight edge fast to said pivot means along a line parallel to the pivot axis; each brace having a second, straight edge perpendicular to said first straight edge and adapted to abut an adjacent portion of the end wall of said container, when moved into abutting position by sliding said pivot inwardly; and quick-detachable fastening means adapted to engage said brace near the remote end of said second straight edge, for fastening said brace and pivot against the adjacent end wall and against sliding movement parallel to the pivot axis.

13. A non-packing receptacle for general household refuse, and the like, comprising, in combination; a substantially rectangular bottom wall; four rising walls rising from the edges of said bottom, and identified as a front wall, a rear wall, and two end walls; all four rising walls being of predetermined minimum thickness and strength; the front and rear walls diverging upwardly at least 5; each end wall being inclined outwardly at least about 3; whereby any tendency of the contents to pack and cake and adhere to the inner surfaces of the container and stay in place when the container is inverted, is minimized; U-shaped reinforcing means having legs located along and adjacent to the upper edges of said end walls, and a bight extending all across the upper edge of said front wall; said reinforcing means including means at the ends of said bight adapted for pivotal engagement with power means for lifting and inverting said receptacle; said bottom wall having a reinforcement along one of its edges adjacent the lower edge of said rear wall; said reinforcement being parallel to said bight and diagonally removed to the remote dihedral corner of the container; said reinforcement comprising a wide bottom wall portion joined directly to the lower edge of said front wall and extending back close to the lower edge of said rear wall, and a narrow portion joined directly to the lower edge of said rear wall; said narrow and wide portions overlapping; said overlap forming a belt parallel to and close in front of the lower edge of said rear well; said belt being of approximately fourtimes. greater bending strength and comprising, in combination: a box-like body having end walls with forwardly and upwardly inclined top edges and front and rearwalls having horizontal tops approximately levelwith adjacent ends of thetop edges of said end walls;cover means for said body comprising a main panel inclined forwardly and slightly upwardly in approximate parallelism with the upper edges of said end walls in the closed position; said main panel having a rear flange along its rear edge; said rear flange being inclined downwardly more steeply than said main panel to stiffen said main paneland to afford an inclined area much steeper than the main panel, whereby material lying on said flange portion 'is'rnore readily dislodged; and transverse horizontal pivot means behind said rear wall and at a level lower than the upper edge of said rear wall;

said pivot meanslbeing operatively connected to support the rear edge of said steeply inclined flange means;

whereby water in largeor small amounts thrown upon said container when closed, as in a storm or by a pressure hose, is prevented from entering said container and from lying in a puddle-on said cover.

15. A refuse container according to claim 14 in which said pivot means comprises a rod rigidly supported on said container body; and a tube encircling said rod; said tube being an integral extension of the rear edge of said steeply inclinedrear flange; said rear edge passing over said rod and then downwardly behind and forwardly under said rod to form a female hinge member housed under and sheltered by said flangeysaid female hinge member also being a structural reinforcement for the edge of said flange.

16. A container according to claim 15, in which said female hinge member curves up in front of said rod, and is cut off a little short of contact with saidsteeply inclined flange, toleave a narrow slot to receive lubricant.

17. A refuse container adapted for power loading, com- .prising, in combination: a main body having walls defining five surfaces of a receptacle opening upward; said combination: a water-tight box-like body having bottom, a

front side, rear side, and two end walls, said body being of relatively thin sheet metal; said body having two loaddistributing bumpers, one at each end of the front wall of said body intermediate the top and bottom thereof; each load-distributing bumper consisting of a reinforcing angle having one leg lying in contact with a portion 7 of the adjacent ,end wall and welded thereto, and another leg lying in contact with an adjacent portion of said front wall and welded thereto; whereby both the strength and the stiffness ofthe entire container portion adjacent said reinforcing angle is greatly increased; said last-mentioned angle leg being adapted to receive the impact of loading mechanism for lifting said container under load.

References Cited in the file of this patent Appleman Nov. 13, 

1. A REFUSE CONTAINER FOR GARBAGE, OR THE LIKE, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL FOUR SIDED BOTTOM; SAID BOTTOM HAVING PARALLELED FRONT AND REAR EDGES; FRONT AND REAR SIDE WALLS EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID FRONT AND REAR BOTTOM EDGES; AT LEAST ONE OF SAID FRONT AND REAR SIDE WALLS BEING INTEGRAL WITH SAID BOTTOM; THE OTHER OF SAID WALLS HAVING A WIDE FLANGE OVERLYING SAID BOTTOM AND FORMING A WATER-TIGHT JOINT WITH SAID BOTTOM; SAID BOTTOM, FRONT AND REAR WALLS PRESENTING END EDGES LYING SUBSTANTIALLY IN PARALLEL VERTICAL PLANES AT THE ENDS OF SAID CONTAINER; AN END WALL PIECE CLOSING EACH END OF SAID CONTAINER; EACH END WALL PIECE COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT MAIN WALL PANEL; SAID PANEL HAVING INTEGRAL INTURNED FLANGES ALONG THREE EDGES, BOTTOM, FRONT AND REAR; SAID BOTTOM PANEL FLANGE ENGAGING SAID CONTAINER BOTTOM TO FORM A WATER-TIGHT JOINT THEREWITH; SAID PANEL HAVING ITS LOWER EDGE SUBSTANTIALLY AT THE ADJACENT LOWER EDGE OF SAID CONTAINER BOTTOM, AND ITS UPPER CORNERS SPACED LONGITUDINALLY OUT AND BEYOND THE UPPER CORNERS OF SAID FRONT AND REAR CONTAINER WALLS; SAID FRONT AND REAR END-WALL FLANGES BEING WIDE ENOUGH TO REACH ACROSS 